#MUWBB Travels to Butler for Sunday Matinee

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Marquette women's basketball team will travel to Butler for a game Sunday, Jan. 24 at 1 p.m. Central time. The game will be televised on FS1 with Matt Schumacker (play-by-play) and Patricia McGraw (color commentary) on the call from Hinkle Fieldhouse.

The Golden Eagles (8-2, 5-1 BIG EAST) went 24 days between games after their Dec. 22 game at Xavier, getting back to action last weekend against Seton Hall and St. John's. MU split the two on its east coast road trip, losing to SHU and beating SJU before defeating Georgetown on Wednesday.

Although the team is anchored by seniors Selena Lott (17.0 ppg.) and Lauren Van Kleunen (12.6 ppg.), the team returns eight letterwinners and three starters from last year. This includes BIG EAST All-Freshman Team selection Camryn Taylor, who's averaging 9.9 points and 6.8 rebounds as a sophomore this year.

MU has gone with a nine-girl rotation this season with sophomore Jordan King (9.3 ppg.) and leading rebounder Chloe Marotta (7.6 reb.) joining the starters. Claire Kaifes, Liza Karlen, Taylor Valladay and Antwainette Walker all play between 10-20 minutes per game off the bench.

Butler (1-10, 1-9 BIG EAST) is led by seventh-year head coach Kurt Godlevske, whose 88 wins as a Bulldog mark the fourth-most by a coach in program history.

Butler didn't start its season until Dec. 5 out of an abundance of caution due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, they've been able to play 10 conference games and one non-conference tilt against Michigan. The Bulldogs won their first game of 2020-21 by the score of 58-40 against Georgetown on Jan. 13.

HOW TO FOLLOW:
The game will be televised on FS1 while GoButlerSports.com will provide live stats. Make sure to follow along on Twitter @MarquetteWBB for live in-game updates.

GAME DETAILS
Marquette (8-2, 5-1 BIG EAST) at Butler (1-10, 1-9 BIG EAST)
Hinkle Fieldhouse
Indianapolis, Ind.
Sunday, Jan. 24
1 p.m. CT
FS1

LIVE COVERAGE
LIVE STREAM | LIVE STATS | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM

LAST TIME OUT
• The Marquette women's basketball team defeated Georgetown 72-40 on Wednesday afternoon at the Al McGuire Center.
• Chloe Marotta scored a career-high 21 points to lead the Golden Eagles (8-2, 4-1 BIG EAST), which saw nine different players reach the scoring column. She also tallied a team-best seven rebounds to go along with four assists. Lauren Van Kleunen and Selena Lott were the two other Golden Eagles in double figures, with 14 and 13, respectively.
• Marquette shot a season-best 57.1% (32-56) from the field and had 26 assists on its 32 made baskets while holding the Hoyas (1-4, 1-4 BIG EAST) to just 16-61 (26.2%) shooting.
• The Golden Eagles started the game on a 20-6 run and never looked back, scoring a majority of their points (46) in the paint as they were able to get quality looks inside consistently. Marotta and LVK led the way down low, combining to score 35 of MU's 72 points (49%) on 17-of-22 shooting.

STARTING FIVE
• The Golden Eagles are 18-6 in the BIG EAST under Coach Duffy, including a perfect 11-0 record at home.
• Coach Duffy coached her 100th career game as a head coach on Thursday, Dec. 10. She holds a 76-30 (.717) overall record, including a 32-10 (.762) mark at Marquette. Coach Duffy holds the best coaching record in program history through her first 40 games as the head coach. The next closest was Terri Mitchell (1996-14), who went 28-12 through her first 40 games.
• The Golden Eagles are 24-1 under Coach Duffy when leading at halftime and 15-1 when they turn the ball over fewer times than their opponent.
• MU is 19-2 when scoring more than 70 points under Coach Duffy and 21-2 when shooting more free throws than its opponent.
• In the 42 games of the Coach Duffy era, the Golden Eagles have out-rebounded their opponent in 39 of those games (30-9 record). They'll look to continue that streak this weekend.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS – ALL-TIME SERIES
• Butler is led by Odessa junior college transfer Okako Adika, a 2019-20 NJCAA Division 1 First Team All-American. She averages 14.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Adika leads Butler in scoring, field goal percentage, 3-pointers made, offensive rebounds and minutes played.
• She's is the only player on the Butler roster to start in all 10 games this season. Other Bulldogs to be active in all 10 games this year include Tenley Dowell, Ellen Ross, and Annilia Dawn.
• Genesis Parker is second on the team with 14.4 points per game, and she's combined with Adika to score 43% of BU's points on the year.
• Butler has struggled defensively in 2020, allowing 74.1 points per game to opponents. That average is 12.3 points higher than last year. The only BIG EAST team allowing more points than BU this season is DePaul (77.6).
• MU has won 10 of the last 12 in the series and leads 14-9 all-time, but Butler has won two of three against the Golden Eagles. Butler won 61-55 at Hinkle in 2019-20 while MU won 76-54 in Milwaukee.

PROMOTING UNITY
• Prior to their game on Wednesday, Jan. 20, the two teams and their coaching staffs met via Zoom and connected in breakout rooms to discuss current events going on in the United States and how to push for change in their respective communities. Key talking points included breakdowns of what happened in Washington D.C. last week, a push for unity, striving for change and fostering dialogue in your family.
• After the national anthem was played leading up to the game, both teams stood side-by-side on the center MU logo in a show of unity as the song "Lift Every Voice" was played. Both coaching staffs stood together on the free throw line before the game as well.
• Postgame, Marquette head coach Megan Duffy and Georgetown head coach James Howard participated in a Zoom press conference to promote the importance of unity within their teams and communities as well as encouraging their players to have a voice in a safe space.

CAREER MILESTONE WATCH
• Selena Lott is 20 points away from hitting the 1,000-point mark for her career. Lauren Van Kleunen is 198 points away from hitting that threshold. They would be the 30th and 31st MU players to reach 1,000 career points.
• Selena Lott is a career 37.0% 3-point shooter, which ranks 7th all-time at MU. She's 17/38 (45%) from downtown this season.
• Lott is 20 steals away from a tie for 10th all-time in Golden Eagles history.

HAVING A LOTT OF FUN
• Senior guard Selena Lott is coming off a breakout season that helped her garner significant preseason acknowledgement both around the conference and nationally.
• So far in 2020-21, Lott leads the team in scoring (17.4), ranks second in assists (4.1) while ranking fourth in rebounding (5.3). She ranks in the top 10 in the BIG EAST in scoring, assists free throw %and 3FG made (2.4).
• The team's best all-around player, Lott has 41 double figure scoring games in her career. She notched her first career double-double in a win at Belmont (12/13) grabbing a career-high 14 rebounds to go along with 18 points and five assists.
• Lott netted a season-best 30 points in a win at St. John's on Jan. 17 in her home state of New York.
• With 980 career points, Lott is just 20 points away from becoming the 30th Golden Eagle to reach the 1,000-point threshold.

MAROTTA THRIVING IN INCREASED ROLE
• The Mequon, Wis., native started 13 games last year as a sophomore and played in all 32.
• She averaged 4.5 points and 4.8 rebounds in 16.9 minutes per game. She doubled both her playing time and production after averaging just over two points in seven minutes as a freshman.
• Marotta's breakout performance last year came against St. Francis (11/7/19) when she scored a career-high 20 points to go along with 12 boards in the team's victory. She beat that career-high on Jan. 20, netting 21 points along with seven rebounds against Georgetown.
• The two-time BIG EAST All-Academic selection has started in every game this season and set a new career-high in rebounds with 14 against St. John's on Jan. 17. She also dished out a career-best seven assists on Jan. 17 while notching her first double figure scoring output (11 points).

WHAT'S NEXT?
• MU's next game will be a rematch against Seton Hall on Wednesday, Jan. 27 at 1 p.m. Central time. FloHoops will have streaming coverage. SHU defeated MU 77-66 in South Orange, N.J. last Friday.

Keep up with the Marquette women's basketball program through social media by following on Twitter (@MarquetteWBB) and Instagram (@marquettewbb) and `liking' on Facebook (/MarquetteWBB).